A former Yellville resident is back in Arkansas after being extradited from Virginia on two felony arrest warrants. Thirty-six-year-old Luke Patterson of Lone Oak, Virginia, was booked into the Baxter County Detention Center Sunday morning with bond set at $5,000.
Patterson’s most recent charges filed in March include a felony count of breaking or entering and a misdemeanor count of theft of property. According to the arrest affidavit, Baxter County Investigator Roger Pike reports Billy Willett filed an incident report alleging his former employee, identified as Patterson, had stolen power tools from his business, on Highway 201 South, during work hours. The thefts occurred during a period from February 1st through March 6th. On March 22nd, a witness provided a voluntary sworn statement to the Sheriff’s Office stating she saw a chainsaw inside Patterson’s residence. The witness claims Patterson told her he stole the chainsaw from Willett.
Later that day, Investigator Pike reviewed security footage at Willett’s business. In one video, Patterson is allegedly seen working outside the shop area, when he stopped and scanned the area. He then entered the interior, obscured and removed property items and dropped them out of view of the camera in the entrance driveway.
In another video, Patterson is reportedly seen working inside the shop, and later covering a property item with a black plastic bag and leaving the shop, placing the item in the same entrance driveway. Investigators executed a search warrant at Patterson’s residence and found a stolen property item positively identified and claimed by Willett. Willett says the cumulative value of the stolen power tools was $813.
The first warrant on Patterson was issued in January when he was charged with a felony count of theft of property. Baxter County Investigator Brad Hurst reports in an affidavit, a report was taken in December on the theft of a 1989 Ford Mustang engine, miscellaneous engine parts and vehicle body parts from a storage unit on Buzzard Roost Road. The total value of the stolen items was $4,500.
The victim stated other than his wife, three individuals knew he had the storage unit. He believed two of those individuals, Patterson and Bridgett Clark, were involved in the theft because he saw pictures of engine parts like his for sale on Facebook. The victim also stated he recognized the garage in the photos as belonging to Patterson and Clark by the carpet on the floor.
Later that month, Clark was questioned about the incident and admitted the engine was in her garage. She denied involvement in removing the engine and parts from the storage unit, but she stated it was brought to the garage by two other men. Clark said the engine was sold to a man named Cody driving a black truck, and that was all she knew about him.
One week later, Patterson was interviewed by investigators, and he admitted the items were at his residence, but he refused to answer how they got there. The Mountain Home Police Department executed a search warrant that same day at a residence on Alice Street and found a set of Ford headlights in the garage. Patterson admitted the headlights belonged to the victim.
Patterson is scheduled to appear in Baxter County Circuit Court.
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